Reports: Danbury bus problems getting better

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
8:00 pm EDT, Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The school contracted with in May with Student Transportation of America.

School officials set up a hot line today to allow parents to communicate problems, though most of the 10,000 students in the district's 18 public schools are getting to school closer to the right time this week. The number is (203) 885-2398.

STA president Mike Kennedy told the school board last night that his company spent $7.5 million to buy new buses for the district and assured them the problems are being ironed out.

Two board members, however, Gladys Cooper and Irving Fox, blasted AST for failing to be ready to deliver service on time. They urged the company to get the schedule in order as fast as possible.

Many of the late pickups are for students who attend programs outside their neighborhood, like the regional magnet school in Danbury and the city's new middle school science program at Rogers Park Middle School, which includes students from Broadview Middle School.

For the most part, the problems involve elementary children.

Pascarella said the bus company is running all 94 buses, which it could not do for the first few days because of driver absenteeism and vacancies.

"In the absence of full complement of drivers, the best they could do was multi-tiering of bus routes, and that was not acceptable," Pascarella said.

The company still is using substitutes until new drivers complete their licensing requirements and can be hired as permanent employees. Pascarella projected 10 to 15 percent of the routes need to come into better compliance.

"We need STA to make daily progress in hiring new drivers," said Elio Longo, the schools' finance director.

He said the district has begun to document late runs and will impose penalties based on its contract with the company. The penalty is 15 per cent of the $300 per diem run per bus, or about $45 for being later than 15 minutes, but it must be documented, Longo said.

Pascarella met with the Citywide PTO on Monday night, which is comprised of about 18 parent representatives from the districts's schools.

"Our concern is the safety of the kids," Pascarella said. "We want parents to let us know about problems and we set up a hot line just for that."

City-wide PTO president Jenn Wolke said parents suggested the hot line and having a police officer or longtime resident on the buses with new drivers.

"There is a sense of things getting better. When you have a new school bus company and a new school year there are always going to be problems," Wolke said, but she did not realize the breadth of the issues.

"My personal story has gotten better," she said.

Her child waited more than an hour the first day of school but now waits only 10 minutes for the bus to attend the magnet middle school program at Rogers Park.

"(STA regional manager) John Spang attended the citywide meeting and gave the company number and his personal number and e-mail," Wolke said.